The desert dancer
by The Unwritten One
Summary: When Ike tries to reach the other side of the desert, he encounters something that can't be human. At the moment he wakes up, he finds himself in an unknown country with all of his precious belongings stolen. On his own mission to find the desert dancers and reclaim his belongings, he learns things that the people had rather kept hidden.
1. Chapter 1

The heat was unbearable. The hot rays of the sun were beating down on his exposed skin. Where the skin was covered, the clothes were soaked in warm sweat and stuck to his skin. Every time his hands involuntarily brushed past some of his metal amour, he immediately jerked, as the metal was heated up by the sun and burned his skin.

The worst was the food and the lack of water.

He had already known that he couldn't eat anymore than strictly necessary and had prepared mentally for that. Which he hadn't thought of was the sand. The sand had seemed to find its way into everything and anything. It had fitted itself into his shoes, made its way into his clothes, eyes and hair, it clung to his arms and neck and, worst of all, had nestled itself into the very few eatable things he had left.

But eatable they were and remained. Although it was not as tasty and fresh as he was used to, they were the greatest meals someone could wish for in the desert.

If only he had water to lessen his thirst with. He was as sparingly as possible with the valuable liquid and collected the dewdrops that gathered onto the metal plates of his amour at sunrise, but there was never enough and it was running out quickly.

He didn't have enough to make his way back to the last water preservation he remembered and therefore he could only travel forward, in hope of finding a place to eat and drink soon.

Sometimes, especially when he couldn't see anything, in the heat of a desert storm, when the sand seemed to hit him like a rain of well aimed, poisoned arrows, fear would creep up his mind. It'd nestle itself into his thoughts and no matter in which small corner of his mind he'd push it into, the ideas would still come.

The possibility of never getting out of the desert, dead or alive, and that he had just been walking in circles and circles the moment he had lost sight of the last oasis, were the worst. Then soon there'd be nothing left of him, except for a few bones, bleached by the sun, along with a few scraps of clothing and metal, which would burn the skin of whoever touched it like the blue flames he was famous for, if the sand hadn't buried him before that.

It was true. Ike, the legendary hero of blue flames, was afraid to die.

It was because of that fear that he reached to his water bottle. It was due to that fear that he almost trembled in excitement when he felt the first few drops on his tongue, trying to lessen his thirst. It was also because of that fear that he felt his heart plummet to the ground and even deeper down when he discovered that those few drops were the last few drops of water that he had on him in this god forsaken place.

Yet the hero still remained calm, or tried to, at least. He had known this day would come and now that the day had actually arrived, all he could do was carry on.

But even a hero has its limits and by night, Ike was focusing his mind on one single task, finding liquid. Not that lowering his standards from water to liquid had helped him thus far. He had to drink. It was all his mind was focusing on. Even if he knew it could only enlarge his thirst, he did it. Since there was no way he could stop thinking about crystal pools. An oasis surrounded by palm trees. Waterfalls...

Ike stopped when he felt he was getting light in the head. He probably needed water soon. But it was also getting cold, and from the little he knew, your body works harder when its cold and that you burn less energy when you sleep. He somewhere in the back of his mind recalled a conversation with Nailah about surviving in the desert. She mentioned that your body temperature drops when you sleep. Ike and her had had a who dispute about what would be smarter if you were low on food; travelling by day, since your body might last longer, according to Ike, or covering greater distances at night and reach your goal before you run out of anything, as was Nailah's line of thought.

At that time, neither had given in to the other, but after only one day of being in the desert, Ike had given in and had started traveling at night. But ever since it had hit him that he had to use his food sparingly, he had started to push through as far and as long as possible without consuming anything.

He felt like he had indeed covered more distance than he had if he hadn't switched to this way of traveling. But, no matter what he would've chosen or could've chosen, he was tried right now.

The hero fell asleep as soon as he laid his head in the cooled down, but still warm, sand and his dreams were filled with images of banquets and fresh meat, shared with all of his friends.

* * *

When Ike opened his eyes, he immediately had to close them. He had awoken from the most pleasant dream he had had in all of his life. Only to find out that it had been just a dream. It was a most unpleasant discovery, along with the fact that the sun was already at its highest point in the sky and shone directly into his eyes.

He had slept longer than intended and he still felt dead tired. He sat up nonetheless and rose to his feet so quickly, that the dizziness almost made him fall down. He first looked around himself.

He saw the spores of the path he had walked the day before, although it was barely a line of vague dots in the distance. He had been lucky this time. More than often a sandstorm would whip up during his naptime and would erase all of his footsteps. He had been completely clueless at moments like that and had quickly decided to walk in the direction the sun rose, since that was quite the solid reference. It also eased his mind when it tried to tell him he might be walking in circles.

Ike stretched his limbs and checked if Ragnell was still strapped to his back. He had more than once almost lost it in the desert sand after he had put it down for a second, only to find it covered with sand a moment later. It was his only companion after all and Ike would like to keep it. If not for protection, it would be nice to have a solid thing to talk to when he went insane. Ike didn't feel like drawing a face on his hand and talking to his hand, mostly because he didn't bring anything with him to draw a smiley face on his hand with in the first place.

He scanned the horizon and was overjoyed with what he saw. A lone cactus on the horizon, it stood firm and unmoved by the harsh desert. Ike screamed in joy as his mind repeated something Volug had told him when he had asked how they survived in the desert when they did ran out of water.

They drank cactus juice.

Ike ran towards the small green plant, which was about half his height. His mind seemed to have removed all of his tiredness and also seemed to have cancelled out the small warning Volug had added to his comment.

He grabbed his sword and ignored the heat that waved off of the metal and quickly thanked himself for wrapping the handle in leather straps, so that his hands didn't burn when he would wield it, before he cut of the top of the cactus.

He thanked the goddess for the fact that he was wearing gloves, even if his fingers were still cut at some places by the needles. All his mid was focused on was taking a bite and that sucking out as much liquid as possible before he swallowed whatever was left.

It Ike quite a while before he noticed that his hand was staring to hurt. There were indeed quite some mean and even deep cuts in his fingers. He instantly wrapped his cape around his hand, which was not really the best option, but he had no better options to begin with.

He had not really brought any supplies with him. Ike tried to squeeze out some of the cactus juice above his flask, it was only half full by the time Ike gave up. The cactus was only a third of the height it had when Ike spotted it. Ike stopped only because he knew that one day it might safe another guy's life.

Ike started to walk again, feeling refreshed. It took him quite a while before he realised that he was still feeling quite lightheaded. It was in that same state of mind that his memory recalled what Volug had warned him for. Cactus juices can have serious effects on the brain.

Ike shook his head, got dizzy as a result, but continued walking as best as he could. He wouldn't just sit down in despair, he would go down trying to get out of the desert.

And except for a little lightheadedness, Ike felt great.

That was until a sandstorm started raging. At first it was just sand tickling Ike's sunburnt skin. Then it was sand that got into Ike's eyes and mouth when he opened them and soon all he could see, if anything at all, was sand.

Ike knew that it'd be better to sit down and wait until the storm started to calm down, but the discovery of a cactus had encouraged him to such levels, that all he wanted and all he could think about was continuing.

It was in the midst of that sandstorm that Ike encountered his second rare sighting of that day.

At first it seemed like just a small dark spot when Ike would look ahead. At first Ike thought it was another cactus and smiled since he knew that the chances of him surviving in the desert were getting larger. Ike almost screamed in joy once more when he saw that the small spot was actually a blur shaped like a crouching person. Whoever it was must've decided to sit down and wait for the storm to be over, just like Ike had decided not to. He knew that civilisation was getting closer and closer.

But when Ike could actually see what the form was, he didn't know what to think. It soon became apparent to him that the person was actually hunched over another being. Only a few steps closer and Ike noticed that it was some kind of large reptile. The person hunched over the creature was dressed in light clothing so far Ike could see, with as most noticeable feature a light, sand coloured cape slung across one shoulder and fasted on the other, which almost completely covered the underneath clothing.

Ike was delighted when he noticed the clothing, it probably was an experienced desert traveller and he sped up his pace. He was only a few feet away from the person when he held still.

The person was not tending to the creature or trying to bury it with sand or anything like that. The creature was actually staring at him with watery eyes. It was still alive and begging Ike to end its suffering. Ike wanted to grab his sword and threaten the person into killing the creature, but then he realised what the person was doing.

The person would reach out for the reptile and then rip out who pieces of its abdomen and rip off long shreds of scrubby skin, before he would consume the raw meat.

It was quite a disgusting sight, but Ike couldn't move. He watched as the guy ripped out another piece of meat and saw the blood flow out and mix in with the sand. He saw a large pool of dark read in the sand under his feet. The blood had also stained the clothing of the person and his long brown hair. Something, perhaps the small voice in his head, told Ike that he needed to get out of here. He was next.

The hunched person suddenly reached out for the neck or the reptile, which screeched miserably, as if it was fully aware of the fact that his life would be ended in mere seconds. It struggled but the grip onto his neck was too strong. The hands, wrapped in metal like gloves, which looked more like robotic claws, brought the creature closer and closer to the predators face.

Ike still couldn't move, not even when he noticed that the animalistic like person opened his mouth and snapped the poor creatures neck in two.

Ike felt how he let Ragnell drop from his grip but he still didn't move away. He saw how the person was still unsatisfied with the meat and actually started to drink the blood of the reptile.

In all that time, the predator still hadn't noticed Ike's presence. Or that was what Ike thought.

The predator quickly threw away the reptile, having grown bored of its taste. And he looked at Ike, with the calm and yet crazy look in his eyes, where only animals and demons know the secret of.

The first thing Ike thought of when it looked into his eyes, was Soren. The guy had the same small build, the same cold expressions and the same aloof air about him. His hair was long too and his clothes were also more practical than fashionable, and yet carried a strange air about them. They really fitted the person.

The blood stained sand and the blood stained clothing had the exact same colour. The cape was used to hide the body and possible other weapons, while the scarf around the neck was probably used to cover the only one that was really necessary. Around the head were bandages wrapped, which covered one eye.

It told Ike that the predator was not invincible. But that didn't take away the fact that it was still stronger and more animalistic than anything Ike had ever seen. He was sure that even the laguz would not want to face the demon with the metal claws.

The demon slowly rose up. It was not really displaying any hostile or aggressive behaviour right now, but that could change in seconds. It was almost as if he was curious. That was at least what the glimmering red eye told him. But that same eye also seemed cold and filled with dark emotions Ike could not phantom.

Ike's thoughts were racing and were mostly things like how to beat him, how to run from him, how fast he would be, how much stronger than Ike would it be, would it torture him like the creature or would his suffering be unnoticeably quick? But who could know, for all Ike knew the Soren like person would capture him alive and keep him as a pet until it bored him.

But before Ike could settle on any of those thoughts, his body ordered a completely shutdown. And he passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

The moment Ike opened his eyes again, he felt reborn.

The cool air against his face, the mattress under him, the small blanket draped over him, even the small loaf of bread next to him, it all seemed so wondrous.

Ike sat up. His head immediately started to spin from the sudden motion. But even that Ike ignored. He reached for a bucket next to him, which contained clear water, and started to gulp it all down.

He didn't care about the fact that almost half of the water splashed over him and seeped through his clothes. He felt like a prisoner who escaped the death penalty. His heart pounded as that of a castaway who finally set a foot onto land. And when he sunk his teeth into the old bread, his spirit lifted as that of a foot soldier who had woken up and discovered that he hadn't died in the last battle.

Only when Ike felt like his body wasn't in need of anything, he took a good look around.

He found himself situated in a small room with a high up ceiling. Close to the ceiling, some light crept through a small window, but it was way to high, for Ike to reach it and, more important, far to small for him to ever squeeze through.

One wall was made out of a curious combination of wood and thick, heavy looking stones, while the three others seemed to be smooth, with wooden logs supporting them. It felt as if the room had been cut out in a mountain, with one side completely opened up and later covered up.

Ike took a few deep breaths, before he opened his eyes wide. He recognised the smell and even, although cooled down, the slightly uncomfortable temperature.

He was still in the desert.

Sudden thoughts and questions reached his head. Why was he here? Where was here? Who had brought him here? The strange boy he had seen was the first thing that flashed through his mind. The animalistic behaviour of him and the way he had just been eating the reptile alive made Ike stiffen.

Ike reached, instinctively, for his sword. When he noticed it was not on his back, which was actually logically, considering he had been lying down. He started to look around. It was not anywhere in plain sight. He started searching everywhere, only to find out that Ragnell wasn't in the room. He even looked up to the ceiling, to see if it was not hanging on a small thread, like some kind of sword of Damocles.

When Ike sat down on his mattress again, Ike noticed something else. His cape was also gone. The fierce red cape embroidered with his family crest. It had been gifted to him by his father.

He felt a calm sort of panic flow through him. The kind he had often experienced before at times he found himself in a pinch, or any other kind of nerve-wracking situation. Instead of just bolting forward, the strange sense of panic forced him to think more strategically.

First things first, what did he know about the situation? He was in the desert or somewhere close to the desert. Things had been stolen from him, so far his sword and his cape were missing. There was a small window in the room and a door, a quick pull and push confirmed that said door was locked.

Ike had two options. To wait for someone to get him and who would do the goddess may know what with him, or he could try to escape his small prison, find his sword and cape, or some other kind of weapon and then find his way out of the building.

If it had been the predator like boy, option two would seem much better. He was going to end up eaten the other way, he was sure of it. On top of that, he didn't know what his enemy was capable of, so fighting his way out of it could be hard, even if he found a weapon he could handle. Sneaking out, it was then.

Ike examined the small wooden door. It was locked but didn't look like it'd hold out for long of he were to give it a good push. But that'd cause a lot of noise, he reasoned. He had heard wood cracking before, not exactly something that was more silent than the wind.

Ike ran a hand through his hair to keep his hair out of his eyes. It allowed him to take a good look at the room once more. Ike felt around his head for a moment. His headband was also missing. How much did they take from him?

But before he could spot anything that could possibly help him escape, the door opened of his own.

Ike whirled around and looked at the doorway.

There was a young woman or a somewhat older girl standing in the doorway. She had a tanned skin and dark blonde hair bleached by the sun. She was wearing the light clothing of someone who knows everything there is to know about travelling in the desert. Even though her looks were young, there was a dominating feeling of authority surrounding her.

"You're awake," she said calmly as she shut the door behind her. Ike remained silent, still trying to see if she was friend or foe. The girl did not seem to mind the fact that he stayed silent and continued talking.  
"You have been quite the lucky fella. Most people don't even make it into the desert that far, let alone survive long enough to get here. And then you were even lucky enough to be found by my men."

The girl had walked toward the chair in the corner of the room and had sat down. She seemed quite confident, like a queen in her castle. She made it seem that she knew everything about the current situation and Ike was sure she did in comparison to him. She also didn't have any problems with letting her guard down in front of Ike, only letting him know that there must be plenty of people waiting just outside of the door, ready to stop him.

"And those odds are laughable if you compare them to what you managed to survive. You're not from here so you probably wouldn't know," she continued. Ike felt like she was lecturing him on things he was supposed to know but always failed to remember.

It was then that he spoke for the first time. "What wouldn't I know?"

The girl chuckled. "So it does speak our language. I was already afraid that you wouldn't be able to understand me. I don't think it has much use to explain everything to you. A wanderer like yourself would only get curious and wander into places none has gotten out of alive. He'd risk his own life… and that of others."

To Ike it seemed like she spoke in riddles, with small hints hidden in every syllable and warnings hidden in the short silence between words. "I am not that reckless. All I want are my things back."

The girl cocked her head at him. She appeared to be thinking and considering what she should tell him and shouldn't tell him. It made Ike feel belittled. It had been a while since he had felt like someone had been in charge of what he knew, didn't know and wouldn't know. It was as if he was manipulated, as if someone was actually telling him what to think.

Her surprise was a little surprising. "I will not lie to you," she stated, as she immediately rose to her feet, "that demon saved you from dying an honourless death. I will also tell you that I did not take any of your belongings. The same demon that left you for us to find was the one who must've taken the things you desire. If you ask me it'd be foolish to demand such material things back."

She chuckled a little and mumbled to herself: "listen to me, what kind of thief wouldn't prefer gold over a human life." She slowly walked up to Ike until she was standing right in front of him. "But if you really want your things back, I'm sure those demons won't mind trading with you. Up until now, no one has ever escaped out of their grasp without paying for it with their lives after setting foot on their territory. If I take into consideration that you are the first one to escape with only some petty things taken from him… It seems you traded your life for those things. Like I said, I'm sure those demons won't mind trading back with you…"

She kept gazing at Ike for a few more moments, before she turned around and walked to the door, where she turned around and spoke to Ike once more. "Rest for now, stranger. If you really want to die that desperately, I will not stop you. But keep in mind that you might be responsible for more deaths than just your own."

* * *

During the first few days of Ike's time in that desert fortress, he wasn't able to leave the room he had awoken. The most of his time was spent resting and recovering from his time in the desert.

He had been sleeping as much as possible to recover from the fatigue that had build up in his body. It also was a good thing for him to rest his mind in those days. He noticed he was starting to think more ahead and was thinking less of what he had left behind. The feeling of guilt for leaving all of his friends behind was still there, but it rose to the surface less often now that Ike had something to look forward to.

The days of recovery were actually quite dull when Ike looked back at them and yet seemed like some of the most pleasant of days. His mind was somewhat more at ease, as he had not ended up in the hands of that boy and his companions, who were constantly referred to as demonic beings, since he was sure he would have ended up eaten.  
Instead he was happy to have found out that the fortress he was at belonged to a group of mercenary-like thieves. They could be hired for all sorts of jobs, but preferred gold, jewels and excitement above fulfilling whatever task they were paid for. They rather stayed loyal to the young woman Ike had met on the day when he first woke up.

Ike had not seen the girl herself afterwards, nor had he heard any of the guards mention her by any name Ike could comprehend, for he could only hear them mumbling just outside of his door. The other thieves living in the fort seemed to respect her as much as they laughed at her and feared her. It was a strange kind of leadership that Ike vaguely recognised from the beginning of his days as the leader of the Greil mercenaries. It meant that she was respected and seen as a leader in every possible way, but that she was, even more importantly than the rest, she was part of the band of mercenaries as a part of a family.

But the respect they held for the tanned girl was nothing compared to the fear that Ike could hear in their voices when they spoke of the demon Ike had supposedly seen. Sometimes Ike spent whole hours just listening to the guards talking hurriedly about him and whoever was with him, all the while only being able to catch a few words and phrases.

There was nothing that he could grasp from those rumours, except the most popular ones, the rumours telling of the demon's taste for raw flesh and blood and the rumour that the ones who had seen them had never been heard of again. Ike would not be really impressed by those rumours, if he had not looked that boy in the eyes himself. He had faced many knights, beast and other creatures said to be undefeatable, and up until now, he had always been the one to walk away from such battles as the victor.

But having seen the empty depths hidden in the red colour of that eye, he was sure that, even if he had been able to fight at his full strength, not a sing of drowsiness, a good filled stomach and not having been weakened by ingesting cactus juice and injuring his hand in the progress, he was sure that he would not have gotten away alive.

But something in Ike's mind also told him that he had to get his things back. It felt suffocating to not have things so close to him having disappeared form his grasp. They were also the last things that he had taken from Tellius and would last forever, while the memories were sure to grow hazy and unclear over time, until they would disappear in the large dark grey area of things one once knew.

But Ike was left completely in the dark when it came to anything remotely related to whatever was living in the desert.

That was the case, until he found someone unexpected knocking on his door one day.

The knocking had roused Ike from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes and realised that someone was hitting his knuckles against the wood of the door. He rose to his feet and, not completely steady on his feet, made his way to the door. Blinking a few times, he waited for the dull and dizzying feeling in his head to disappear.

He opened the door and looked at the young boy through the crack, not feeling like completely opening the door as he wanted to get back to sleep quickly and opening the door any further would make it seem like he was inviting the boy in.

The boy did not really care for how much the door was opened and was instead gawking at Ike. It was quite a funny sight. Ike, a fully grown man with a frowning expression, and the boy, who was probably just old enough to dress himself, with an mixture of amazement and excitement written in his face.

Since the boy did not speak first, and forgot to swallow in the meantime, causing him to drool a little, Ike decided to break the silence first. "Can I help you?"

The boy quickly wiped his face before speaking and also blinked for the first time. "You're real!" was the first thing he exclaimed. Ike did not know if he should be flattered or get mad. "You really are an outsider! I've never seen blue hair before. What does it feel like to have blue hair? Where are you from? What is it like there? Are all women there as strong as Miss Tamiel?" The boy rambled on.

"Woah!" Ike interrupted him, as he crouched down until he was at eye level with the boy, "One question at a time, okay?"

Suddenly the boy fell completely silent and even his expression turned as serious as a five-year-old's expression can turn serious, which resulted in a adorable looking pouting face. He looked over his shoulder, as if to make sure no one was overhearing him. Whatever he was going to say, it was not something he was supposed to be saying, Ike was sure of that.

"They say," the boy started whispering, "that you saw one of them. You know… one of the desert dancers…"

"Desert dancers…" Ike repeated, feeling that it was a strangely befitting name for the animalistic guy. His actions had nowhere been near as elegant and refined as a dancer's and yet, something seemed to fit in. Maybe it was the fact that the guy had possessed some sort of natural elegance that would allow even killing to be something… enjoyable to watch.

"So it is true?" The boy inquired.

"Yeah, I saw one," Ike said.

The boy's eyes became as wide as platters. "Really? But… But they also say that you are looking for them…"

"That's true too," Ike said, a little firmer than the mumbling he had used before. No grown-ups had allowed one single word to slip past their lips, but a child, like this boy, seemed like someone who might spill at least some beans.

"Why would you want to do that?" the boy asked.

"They stole things from me," Ike thought over his words carefully, "that are very important to me."

"So you want to talk to them?" The boy fumbled with his hands and Ike realised he was clutching something.

"Yes, I would like to have a talk with them. But I don't know where to start looking, maybe… you can help me?"

The boy threw a quick look over his shoulder. "Miss Tamiel says we should never talk about them… but if you really want to talk to them…"

"Yes," Ike said slowly, "I really want to talk to them."

The boy stiffened up a bit, like most little boy do when they are about to do something they are not supposed to. "Every few weeks... someone goes to the desert of illusions. That's where they live, you know, the dancers. But… Miss Tamiel always tells them not to go… because they always end up lying around somewhere in front of the building. They look like they're sleeping, but everybody says they won't wake up…"

The little boy's eyes started to water a little. Ike opened the door more and softly patted the boy's head, as he continued talking. "One day... Miss Tamiel's father wanted to meet with the desert dancers and ask them not to come so close to our home, because we found we were in danger… because they are the ones who bring those people here when they are in that never ending sleep…"

The boy started sobbing loudly and Ike, not knowing what to do else, picked him up and let the boy cry on his shoulder. When the boy was able to talk again, he continued he story, while still sobbing at times. "I saw the old grandpa when they brought him here from the desert of illusions… He was asleep too…" The boy opened his hands to Ike. "I found this close to where grandpa was found…"

In his hands he was holding a silver chain, a necklace. It had broken at some point, probably at the time the old man was brought to the fortress. There was one tear-shaped stone hanging from it, made from an odd stone that appeared purple and blazing red at the same time.

"I think it is from one of those people who try to go into the desert, they always have tears drawn on their outfits and faces… And I thought… that if you really want to look for the dancers you should talk to them…" the boy continued as he held out the pendant to Ike. It took him a few seconds before he realised the boy wanted him to take it.

"For me?" he asked. The boy nodded. "Are you sure? It's quite a treasure."

The boy nodded again. Ike smiled and took the pendant from the boy. It was not cool as expected of metal, it had warmed up in the boy's hand.

"Thank you" he said to the boy, who smiled back at Ike.

At the same time he could hear an angry woman's voice, shouting down the hallway. "Nico! Where are you, you little brat!"

The boy's small fist tightened onto Ike's shirt. At the same time Ike saw the young woman cross the corner, who had 'greeted' him the day he had awoken.

"Nico!" she called out when she saw Ike holding the boy. It was a mixture of anger and relief.

"Miss Tamiel…" the boy mumbled.

"What where you doing all the way here!" the woman, who apparently went by the name of Tamiel, shouted.

"I… I…"

Ike noticed that the boy was about to start crying again answered for him

"He got lost and ended up knocking on my door."

Tamiel took a long look at the both of them, then sighed and took over Nico from Ike. "Come, let's get you to your mother, okay? You really got her worried." She took one step away from Ike before addressing the latter properly and with a more stern voice. "And since you feel well enough to carry Nico around, I presume you have enough energy to put those muscles to work."

Ike stayed silent. Tamiel and him stared at each other for a few moments, before Tamiel gave up, turned around and walked away. The only one who said a proper goodbye was Nico.

"Until later, mister blue-hair!"


	3. Chapter 3

Ike had been sitting on the small stonewall for several hours now. The sun was beating down on him. He had looked at the broad men walking around the building complexes, either leaving with nothing or returning with gold or treasure stuffed into their pockets. Some of them were Laguz, some Beorc, but none seemed to mind the other race. The real attraction seemed to be Ike, whom had learned that blue hair was uncommon in whatever god-forgotten country he had landed in.

He was glad that he had been given some things to keep the sun from getting to him. He had been given a cape of thin fabric to keep his shoulders from burning in the sun. He had also found a nice piece of fabric that served well as headband. He had even been offered a full set of gear worn by the people he had started to call 'colleagues' even if he hadn't done one bit of work for them. He had refused to replace his own armour, even if the metal heated up from the sun and only that was enough to make it obvious to him why people preferred to wear leather armour in the desert.  
Aside from the armour he had been allowed to 'borrow' a steel sword from Tamiel. It looked like it could break at any time, but Ike would rather have something than nothing at all. He wondered if she'd get mad if he actually broke the thing.

As for the reason he was sitting out on a bunch of stones, outside, dressed completely in his armour, he wasn't sure himself. Tamiel had stormed into the room Ike had been confined in, mostly referred to as 'his' room, and told him she had a job for him to take care of. She had told him to 'move his ass' and wait outside. That had been around sunrise and even Ike could tell that it had to be noon by now.

During the time he had been sitting on the ledge, nothing had really happened. The most exciting thing that had happened had been a small visit from Nico, who had brought a few friends along. They all had spent a few moments gawking at Ike's hair. Ike hadn't mind having a small group of fans, or a group of small fans, until they had started to poke him and tug at his hair in order to see if he and his hair colour were real.  
Unfortunately, the more Ike had tried to shake them off, the more they seemed to enjoy their little game.

But soon Nico's mother had come by and, after giving Ike a warm smile first, had hoisted up Nico before leaving towards whatever place her next task was, with all of Nico's play buddies following her. Ike had focused on watching them leave and noticed how one particular clumsy little fellow kept tripping over his feet every few steps.  
When they had disappeared out of sight, either they had entered a building, turned a corner or the sand blowing through the air hid them from sight, Ike had felt the relief of being freed from the gang of children, but not all that long after that feeling suck in, Ike felt lonely once again.

Everybody went on with his or her usual business while he, the outsider, was forgotten. Ike realised that himself too. Not that it is not hard to feel yourself lonely and unimportant when nobody even looks at you, but Ike was also painfully aware of the fact that he was not needed here. Every single one of these people, whether they were thieves, bandits, mercenaries or a combination of all three of those, already had a system, which they worked to accordingly. Ike didn't fit into that schedule, neither did he feel like he wanted to one day.

After he had let himself be miserable for a while like that, his thoughts moved on. He started thinking about the way working here and started comparing it to the routine at home, in Tellius, with the Greil Mercenaries. Although he found it cocky to think so, he found himself to be pretty important within the group. Whether it was as boss, brother, rival, friend, teacher, commander and a whole lot of other things. He wondered if they had managed to find a replacement for him on all fronts.

As brother he was impossible to replace, simply because Mist didn't have any other brothers, nor the chance of ever getting another.

As boss he found himself surprisingly easy to be replaced. Soren would be in charge of the storage, the gold and the thing he was paid, almost always, ridiculous amounts of gold for, thinking of strategies. Titania could easily replace him as the person who had earned enough respect to tell people what to do.

As for his friends, he as a person was also irreplaceable. But over time they would make new friends and lose old once and at some point in time, they might even have forgotten about him all together. The same went for rivals.

There were only two more things he could think of which might remind people sometimes of him.  
He was a grand eater and that was no secret. He could just picture Mist or Oscar making as much stew as they used to and then find out that they wouldn't have to prepare another pot, or maybe they would since Boyd would also always grab whatever could be marked as remotely eatable.  
The last thing that kept his mind wondering about whether or not people would miss him (as a person, not the heroic lord of the blue flames who saved Tellius) were actually the things that made him feel stupid or embarrassed when just doing the smallest and most normal things. Sure, he had been in love with some persons before, but found himself always too embarrassed to actually take action. In secret he was painfully aware of that fact, but whenever people asked him why he wasn't thinking of settling down, he lied to them that he was too busy. He often told this lie to himself too.  
Often enough people had liked him too, in sometimes, obnoxious ways, and Ike wondered if those people thought of him now that he was gone, how they thought of him and if they hadn't just gone on to the next infatuation.

At some point when wondering about these things, the now familiar face of Tamiel had appeared before him. She was still the same as ever, not that he had expected otherwise. The same face that did not belong to a teenage girl, but at the same time did also not belong to what Ike would call a woman. The permanent scowl on her face didn't help either.

Everything about her let the world know how irritated she was right now and therefore her tone of speaking sounded also quite annoyed.

"And what might you've been doing here all day?"

Ike wanted to say: 'waiting for you to show up,' with a nice snarky sounding tone in his voice but instead he mumbled a few very monotonous words.

"I'm just sitting here on a wall thinking about how the world would be without me."

"There wouldn't be a soul in the world who'd miss you."

Ike, who had thought that his words had sounded quite depressive, was quite surprised with the comment. That might've been because of the message of the words or because of the fact that the words had been spoken by an individual unknown and unnoticed by him up until now.

Next to Tamiel was standing a man, somewhere in his late twenties. He was tall, that was the first thing Ike noticed about him. The second thing was most likely the fact that he was not someone from the desert. Save fort he fact that he had not seen anyone with black hair in the desert, which this man's was, he was wearing a black cape all around him. Ike believed he'd be sweating to death by now, but the pale man had yet to break sweat.

The man carried on his reasoning, in a voice that told Ike that he didn't even expect people to listen to him anymore.  
"Of course, missing you would be impossible, since they'd first have to know you before they could even miss you, so-"

"Shut up, will ya?" Tamiel interrupted him.

The man looked at her with a scowl on his face. At first Ike wasn't sure if he was scowling at first, there seemed to be a natural seriousness about his face in general. If Ike would have to capture this man in one word, the word suited best would have to be 'regal.'

Tamiel opened her mouth to, most likely, shout at the man, but said man cut her off before she could even get started.

"It is impolite to keep people waiting."

"You're the one to talk, mister 'I-was-doing-something-important.' " She put a lot of emphasis on the 'important' so Ike felt like he had wasted time sitting here so that the man had been able to sleep in.

Before the man could retort, Ike interrupted the conversation. "Can we just get to the point?"

Tamiel glared at Ike for a moment, it was almost as if she had wanted to continue arguing, but the glare quickly changed back in the familiar scowl. "Fine. Blue-hair, this is Magnus. Magnus meet Blue-hair."

Magnus raised an eyebrow and looked at Ike, who mumbled: "It's Ike."

Tamiel continued as if she had never insulted a single soul. "Magnus is a scholar and to make a long story short, you're tagging along with him on his next study adventure."

Magnus turned to her. "What I do is very important research. You shouldn't make fun of that."

"But I did, didn't I?"

Ike immediately tuned the two of them out. He did not feel like hearing them bicker. Strangely enough they reminded him of a married couple. The way they talked was alike, the way a scowl was permanently on their face was alike and they seemed to like having a discussion going on. The only problem was that the discussion was more likely to end in a fight in which at least one innocent bystander, that bystander being, for example, Ike, would end up being killed.

"Let's go," Magnus said curtly. It seemed as if Tamiel had somehow won the pointless argument, which seemed to have damaged his pride.

Ike, who was carrying everything he owned or had borrowed already, stood up. He thanked Tamiel, who huffed and said Ike should keep his thanks to himself until he could return the items he had borrowed from her. Ike was pretty sure she'd make him pay, as some form of interest.

It was then, when the desert started to turn into sturdy grassland that Ike first got a good look at the beautiful the country. The desert had been nice to see, but it had lost its glance after Ike had got to know how harsh the conditions could be. He recognised some plants and saw a few familiar animals, before they quickly ran away.

They started to approach something that looked like the edge of a cliff in the distance. Ike was surprised that the path they were following, although it was not a path paved with stones, lead them straight to the edge of the cliff. Only when they were almost standing at the edge, Ike noticed that there appeared to be a staircase build against the side of the cliff that lead down.

The stairs led so far down that Ike was sure that in the mornings you couldn't see anything that lay below the edge of the cliff because of all the mist.

"This is our country," Magnus spoke. It was the first time he had spoken since the journey had started and Ike was a bit surprised. "It is not very large, they say you can cross it within a week, even if you don't try. It's pretty much closed off from other countries, on one side we have the desert, which no one has ever crossed…" He glanced to the side for a moment, Ike did not feel as if he wasn't believed, but rather as if Magnus knew something more. Magnus continued, "We've got a forest to the south which becomes so large at a certain point that you'll be lost in there forever. The rest of our country is bordered by large mountains, which is where from our rivers flow, those rivers all join each other until the last two of them join each other in the large lake, which lays at the foot of this cliff, from which it flows towards the forest. Most of the villages are founded across the river on flat surfaces and preferably surrounded by fields. There are a few villages in more remote and more dangerous areas have been build there in olden days because of the sanctuaries situated in those places…"

Ike would've told him to shut his mouth with all the useless crap, but the way he spoke, although it was still at a monotonous tone, was without any sort of contempt, anger or malice. Ike felt like Magnus really loved this land and did not dare to interrupt him. He could not stop himself from tuning out Magnus' voice and was surprised when he was smacked lightly on the back of his head.

"Where you listening?" Magnus inquired.

"I was in the beginning," Ike answered honestly. "So where are we headed?"

"We'll be following one of the larger rivers upstream, then we'll reach the only city, the capital. It should take a day or three, to get there," Manus said matter-of-factly and the boredom in his tone had returned.

"How high is the chance that we'll encounter bandits?" Ike asked.

"It's not likely, crime rates are pretty low, even if you consider Tamiel and her… associates."

"Then why am I here? I assumed I was put to work as some sort of bodyguard," Ike spoke truthfully.

Magnus looked at him as if he had just said something that could've gotten him declared insane. "Really? Tamiel said I should take you to the capital to… that idiot." Magnus started to walk down the stairs at a rather fast pace and in the time Ike had stood wondering for a moment, he was already a good ways in front of him.

"Wait, why did she want you to take me to the capital?" Ike shouted after Magnus, before running after him.

* * *

Magnus had forgotten to mention that, when he was talking about the time it would take traveling, he expected Ike to only need five hours of sleep a night. Ike had also been disappointed by the food he was served, or rather the amount, it almost felt like he was back in the desert when it came to the amount of food. He had decided that he'd still prefer his food covered in sand, as long as it came in sufficient meals, and would still prefer the heat of the desert as long as would be allowed to sleep the required eight hours. This whole scenario would need to be rethought if there would be minimal amounts of water, though.

This actually bring us to the discussion Ike and Magnus were having on the fourth day of their travels. On the second and third day nothing worth mentioning had happened, so I will spare you all the uninteresting details. It was the last day of their travels, which was a day later a planned, since, according to Magnus, Ike's 'laziness' had caused them delay. Ike found the need for a small break once in a while only humane, but it did not change the fact that they would not arrive sooner than noon, by whatever means possible.

But the discussion that was taking place was not about who was lazy in whose opinion, but actually about the best way to travel through the desert.

"The best way is to travel light," Magnus proclaimed.

"That's always the best way," Ike countered. "You should always only take with you what's absolutely necessary, so that applies to desert travels too."

"Ah…" Magnus sighed, as if he just realised that too. "But you have to watch your clothing too. It needs to be light, reflective and wide, so that it keeps you cool."

"Reflective?" Ike wondered out loud.

"Yes, you should wear light colours to have it reflect the sunlight. Haven't you learned that in school?"

"No, I never went to school. My parents and friends taught me everything I need to know," Ike said. It was quite logically, there had never been much money to spare and it was not like a lot of technical and detailed knowledge of vague subjects was necessary when you were raised by and planned to join a band of mercenaries.

Magnus opened his mouth a few times as if he was planning to throw an educated insult in Ike's way. In the end he did, somewhat at least.

"That explains why you're such a poor excuse for a desert traveller."

"What makes you say that?" Ike frowned.

"For starters your clothes, the food you carried and more importantly, the way you regulated your drinking of water."

"I wanted to use it as sparingly as possible, so I would only take a small sip every two hours or so. What's wrong with that?"

"Well…" Magnus said, "It's actually better to drink your fill one time, then to give your body only very small portions that don't satisfy your needs multiple times. That way you won't exhaust your body all that much."

"Have you ever tried travelling in the desert by day?" Ike asked sarcastically. He was quite baffled when Magnus actually responded.

"No, I travel by night."

"But…" Ike remembered having a fight with Nailah over the choice to travel by day or to travel by night. "Why is that actually better?"

Magnus thought for a moment, while he gazed into the distance. "While it is blazingly hot during the day in the desert, the temperature at night often drops below zero, so you wouldn't risk freezing to death. I suppose you wouldn't get dehydrated as quickly, since you avoid sweating and therefor losing water. And if you dig a small hole for during the day, you can actually lie around in the shadow a bit."

"But what about navigating? Isn't that harder at night?"

"Most desert travellers carry around a map of the stars, some even several to determine time, date and position. Some are so experienced they don't even need those star charts and know the stars by heart." He glanced over his shoulder and noticed that Ike was looking at him weirdly. "But of course, if you haven't thought of that or never learnt that…"

Ike felt something in him snap. "Now you need to listen and you need to listen good. I might not be the smartest but I don't have to take this from you! I-"

Magnus suddenly stood still and raised a hand, this way he motioned for Ike to stay silent.

"What?" Ike snapped, although he did hold still next to Magnus.

"I need you to shut up!" Magnus snapped back. He seemed agitated and somewhat nervous, as if he was being cautious.

He seemed to listen very intently while he peered in the distance. He lowered his hand and turned to Ike and began to speak at a very low tone. "Okay, we are going to walk on, but I need you to be quiet and look straight ahead."

"What? Is there someone in the distance?" Ike tried to peer into the distance too. Because he couldn't see anyone, he took Magnus' silence as a confirmation. "You act as if they're enemies, do you think I can't handle them? I fought goddesses!"

Magnus' face was very serious, even for his doing. "Be careful of what you say! I don't doubt you or your skills, nor do I have any reason to, but until you've gotten the time to get to know how this country 'works,' you do as I say!" Magnus began walking at a fast pace again.

Ike felt enraged and could already feel his hand tighten on the handle of his sword, but decided that it might be wise to follow Magnus for now, although he wasn't planning on just letting this slide.

For quite some time Ike had no idea what had caused Magnus to become quite so upset. Before long however, Ike noted the figure of a person travelling across the road towards them. Magnus did not display any more of his nervousness as he had done before, but appeared to be the calmness itself, although Ike dared to bet he was still in inner turmoil.

The figure was traveling towards them in a calm, steady and yet fast pace and very quickly Ike was able to get a better look at the person.  
He was clad in grey clothed armour, with only a few metal parts, mostly meant to protect the joints, which were tied in place with white strips of cloth. He wore a light grey cape, most likely to protect against weather and hide weapons or valuables from people not meant to see them. His hair, which was surprisingly long, was tied back in a low ponytail.

If Ike had been any closer and looked at the man's cape when they had been closer, Ike would've noticed that there was a pattern of tears woven into the cloth with greyish purple threads. But Ike tried to look ahead of him when the man was close to passing them, as Magnus had told him. Ike managed to quite well too, until they were just passing each other.

Curiosity got the better of Ike and he glanced to the side. He did not catch anything of the man's face, but immediately met the eyes of the man. For only a split moment, although it felt much longer, Ike found two flaming eyes, not quite orange, not quite yellow and not quite red in colour, staring at him.

If you were to ask him to describe the colour of the eyes, he would tell you that it must've been the colour of fire itself set ablaze, burning with fire. He would say that it was a bad way of putting it, but that he had never encountered a better way of describing them.

But at that moment he could only tear his gaze apart, while he could also still feel the man looking at him. He felt a sense of dread, some sort of awareness rise within him. A feeling that was familiar and he told himself he had felt this way before, although he could not even begin to wonder where he had felt this way. He imagined this would be the way it would be when one were a weak rabbit and ran into a large predator.

For a long time they just continued onwards in silence.

At some point, Ike guessed at the point where Magnus found that it was safe to talk again, he breathed in deeply and out and then spoke.

"That… was a Protector."

"A… Protector?" Ike repeated, not really understanding what Magnus was saying.

Magnus frowned as if in deep thought. "Well, originally their name in the ancient language meant 'shadow' or 'nothing,' at rare occasions it would be translated in 'emptiness,' but because of their duty their name came to mean 'to protect,' hence their modern name and-"

"I don't really care for that," Ike interrupted him.

"Ah, sorry, I tend to get carried away a bit."

A bit? That's like calling a burned down village 'no big deal,' Ike thought to himself, although it barely remained that way.

"I should I explain it in short? Magnus questioned himself. "The Protectors are a clan of this country that have sworn to protect the religion of this country at all costs, in theory that is, in reality that boils down to protecting this whole country. Their duties in special involve protecting the royal family. They pretty much function as an elite guard who take care of any kind of turmoil. If they didn't exist, I doubt this country would've managed to survive for long."

Ike tried to give all the puzzle pieces a good stop, but had the idea he might've been trying to put the wrong picture together. He wondered if it was because he held the wrong puzzle pieces or because he couldn't see the bigger picture.

"Why did we need to be silent then?" Ike asked.

"Well, you're obviously a foreigner," Magnus began.

"Because of my hair colour?"

"Exactly," Magnus nodded, "But more importantly, they are tasked with keeping this country safe at all costs, either that being their own life or yours."

"But why would they want to suspect us?"

"If you don't raise any suspicion, they don't have any reason to go after you and they won't. But as soon as you pose even the slightest thread…" Magnus thought for a moment. "Just don't try to act suspicious."

"So having blue hair raises my chances of being suspicious?" Ike frowned.

"Not asking so much questions might help, you know?" Magnus replied.

"That's not an answer to my question!" Ike all but shouted.

Magnus refused to answer by staying silent.

Only then Ike realised that they had actually neared a large stonewall, which was, as Ike correctly presumed, one of the city walls. The river they'd been following up stream could be seen flooding through a low opening in the wall, barred with steel bars, with nasty looking points, probably to keep people from entering and leaving the city by any other way than the gates.

Luckily enough, the gates had been opened, Ike wouldn't have liked to be stuck for a whole night outside the gates, waiting for them to open.

Magnus and he both headed to the gates and, since Magnus didn't bother preaching some explanation, Ike thought they could just walk through.

Magnus was indeed able to walk past the guards easily, some even nodded to him as a greeting. But when Ike wanted to step past the guards he was stopped.

"You'll have to hand over your sword if you want to enter the city," the guard in front of Ike said.

"What?" Ike exclaimed, " I'm not going to-" But Magnus cut him of before he could go any further.

"Just do as you're told."

Don't ask questions and just do ask you're told.


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: I apologize, since that is all that I can do. I've tried my best to repair what I've damaged and have therefore rewritten the last half of the previous chapter and this one can even be considered completely new. I suggest you read the previous chapter too, but that's up to you.  
__I'm also sorry for making you wait. I won't bother you with stories about why I'm slow. I'll only tell you that I've been going through some things lately that I have a hard time dealing with.  
I hope that you'll still be willing to read this story and to continue telling me your opinion, whether it's good or bad, as long as you tell me why it's good or bad, so that I can improve this story and the ones to come. Feel free to PM me with any questions if you have any, since I'm not likely to answer them through reviews._

_I thank you for still reading this._

* * *

It was nothing like Ike had ever seen before. When he had passed through the gate, still feeling angry and defeated, he had been looking at the ground and when he looked up he had seen something he had never expected.

What had he expected to see in the first place? He had believed that the city would be the exact same as every other city he had been to. Cities build from cold and hard stone. Some empty old stalls, which would be filled with all kinds of eatable products, some overprized, some underprized, each morning and would become emptier as the day dragged on. He had expected to see the streets filled with people who looked happy, alone or together, either with a lover or a whole family, or both, who would smile at everyone and everything to share a bit of their happiness. He would have expected that happiness to die out in the crowd of the unhappy people, who were too absorbed in their own troubles to even notice the light of day.

It would have to be a city exactly like almost every city he had ever walked into. It was one of the reasons why Ike had always preferred the small villages surrounding the base. The people there would always smile at you, even if they were about to drown in their problems. In those villages such problems almost never existed, because everyone cared about everyone and would always help each other out.

When he had needed to travel from city to city during the times of war, he had only started to hate them more and more, since in those cities, the only thing that made people continue was survival, not as a group, but as an individual, who couldn't care less about what happened about everyone else.

In times of peace that was not much different, since the higher-ups, meant to protect the people, were only after gathering more riches.

Luckily for this world, Ike's world, actually any world in general, Ike had learned that, although scarce, there were rulers, who actually cared about the people and who indeed tried to make the world a better place. Ike had left Tellius behind, knowing that those people were in control and had the strength to continue.

But we've wandered off to far. This world has many stories to be told and even more that are untold and some that you nobody in any language in any time would be able to tell with words. And was the kind of story that Ike would need to tell you about his first moments in that city.

Instead of a dull coloured mass of people, somehow dragging themselves on, the first thing Ike saw was a large group of people, dressed in all kinds of colours. Ike could only watch in awe for the first few moments.

The stalls were filled with all sorts of delicious looking food and others were decorated in all kinds of decorative items. From the windows of houses, large carpets woven by hand and decorated with designs, meant to tell of stories unheard, hung from them. The people themselves were dressed in, what Ike guessed, were some traditional or ceremonial clothing. The most noticeable thing about their outfits were their masks, colourful and distorted faces with angry black lines crossing over them and bringing the eyes forward.

Ike watched the masks. All of them appeared to have been made by hand, probably by the same person that wore them, and yet there was some sort of union between the masks, something that cannot be put to words.

And as soon as Ike noticed that, everything suddenly became more macabre.

The colours were no longer brightening everything up, but dragging everything down in a spiral of chaos in the otherwise plain streets. The excitement of the people about this moment and these things was no longer uplifting, but suffocating. The music that sounded on each street corner came together in a heavy sort of buzzing that seems to get inside of your head.

A hand was placed upon Ike's shoulder and as a result he almost jump. As soon as the dark feeling had come, it had gone.

"You alright?" Magnus asked.

"Yes, I just…" Ike scratched the back of his neck, "I just spaced out a little."

Magnus grinned, an odd sight, but Ike supposed he was a man who smirking fitted the best and for whom laughing was unnatural. "It is quite a sight, I admit that. It surprises me every year."

"They do this every year?" Ike asked with disbelief. The only time he could remember seeing a city in a celebration that came close to this one, was when the Mad King's War had come to an end. And that seemed like a small birthday party compared to this.

"Every year, just after the fields have been plowed and sowed, at the end of spring. For one week long everybody celebrates. It's pure madness compared to the normal way of things."

"So… This is a harvest festival?" Ike wondered.

"What? No." Magnus said. "I suppose it seems as bit odd, but it is a traditional feast… What am I saying… Its roots don't lie there, that's coincidence."

"Why are the people celebrating then?" Ike almost fell as a small young boy, who was chasing a chicken for no good reason, bumped into him.

"Dancing, Music and Singing are seen as way to appease and honour the goddess and all other holy things, so from time to time festivals like this are being held. This is the biggest one of all."

"But what do people celebrate now?"

Magnus, who had been looking around him, looked at Ike. "Eh? Oh, they celebrate the ceremony that began the flow of time."

Ike looked at Magnus as if he was the one who had gone insane for a change. "What?"

"I'll explain later, but not now. We need to find someone." Magnus didn't wait for any response at all, like usual, and started to push through the crowd.

Ike tried to follow him, but was hindered by the mass of people, which is only logical, but also had to watch out to not step on something or trip over something else or stepping and tripping over little kids, who were let to roam the streets free apparently.

The worst were the people trying to sell him things. They'd grab him by the arm and start talking about some sort of product from what he wasn't sure what it was, let alone that he would want to buy it. He still didn't have any money, so even if he wanted to, he couldn't buy it.

But this was not something the shopkeepers could read of his face, instead they must've thought he was an easy target to sell their trinkets to, and so another one grabbed his arm.

"You look like the kind of man who would be interested in things with a story," a well-fed woman declared to Ike.

"Actually I have to go, I don't have time-"

"Nonsense!" She tightened her grip on Ike's arm. He had been trying to pry himself free slowly, trying to be polite. "Just look at this carpet, do you know the tale behind the image?"

Ike glanced at the carpet she held out to him. Carpet was a big word, it was thin woven fabric that seemed smooth and even cold to the touch, like water. It was probably meant to be hung on the wall.  
The image itself was fairly simple, two figures, one white, the other woven from many different colours, reached out to touch each other surrounded by a black background. On the background letters had been painted, not woven but put there with thin white paint, in a neat and elaborate handwriting Ike could not read, nor understand.

"The story is of this boy and this girl and they are not allowed to love each other because-"

Ike finally managed to free himself from the woman's grasp. "No thank you. It's really nice, but I've got no…" Ike hesitated a moment, which would almost become somewhat of his downfall, to decide whether her should say he had no money or that he had no interest in buying things which were all about cliché love stories.

The woman immediately had his arm in a tighter grip. "Aw, don't be like that, you must've had someone who must want such a thing. A sister, a mother, or would you rather give it to your own 'special someone'?"

Ike wanted to hit the woman, but was saved from buying women's trinkets by someone who put a hand on the woman's shoulder and managed to pull her away from him.

"How about you don't bother the young man, Miranda?"

A strong guy, who needed to make his well-toned body even more obvious by not wearing a shirt, smiled widely at the woman, who immediately smiled back.

"He's with you then, Hemah?" She said, a little too sweetly.

Ike thought to himself that she might make more sales if she used that voice more often.

"Yeah, you could say that. He's with ol' Magnus." The guy smiled again and pointed over his shoulder.

"Ah, continue on you three then, I've still got work to do." The woman waved at them a bit, signalling for them to move along.

As soon as the three of them were around the corner, the shirtless guy, apparently named Hemah spoke.

"Sorry about that. Miranda sells things of good quality, but her sales tactics are a bit forceful, to say the least." He scratched his sand coloured hair sheepishly.

"You're not kidding," Ike stated. He remembered having to deal with Aimee before, but he didn't remember that being this bad. Probably because he was used to it when Aimee was around and had never had an encounter like just now with that saleswoman.

"Ah well, what has happened has happened. It's in the past." The man extended a hand towards Ike, "They call me Hemah."

Ike took the hand. "Ike."

"You should be careful in crowds," Magnus immediately scolded.

"I tried to, but that woman…" Ike stated forcefully.

"Let it go, Magnus, we've got more important things to do," Hemah said. Ike noticed for a moment that he appeared to have two scars under his purple eyed, running over his cheeks and even making his way down his neck. They must've been made deliberately and with great precision, Ike thought to himself.

"Yeah, did you manage to take it with you?" Magnus asked. Ike guessed that they were completely ignoring him for the moment.

Hemah removed something that had been strapped to his back. Even from quite a distance, anyone would've noticed that it was some kind of large, thick and heavy sword. It had been wrapped poorly in multiple layers of thick rough cloth, from top to bottom.

"I managed to trick the guards into thinking it was some kind of ceremonial lance," Hemah grinned, brimming with self-confidence.

"You idiot! Even a two-month old baby could tell that it's not a lance!" Magnus shouted angrily.

"Well, it was wrapped in a few more layers, but that's uncomfortable to carry around, you know…" Hemah sounded a bit down now.

Magnus slapped his forehead, "You bribed the guards, didn't you?"

"What? I'm no good when it comes to smuggling and lying and you know that. I'm no good in sneaking either so I figured, since we'll be in trouble anyway, I might as well take the easy way."

"Wait…" Ike started to mumbled to himself, "Lances are allowed within the city, but swords are not?"

Hemah and Magnus both looked at Ike as if he had just appeared out of thin air.

Magnus sighed to himself, "I shouldn't let myself get carried away by your stupidity."

"Hey!" Hemah shouted, "You were the one who started talking about this in front of him, so I assumed it was alright!"

Magnus dug into his pockets and shoved a small sack, which sounded like there were quite some coins inside, onto Ike. "Here, buy yourself something to eat. Do yourself a favour and get yourself a mask somewhere. Shopkeepers won't bother you so much that way. When the sun sets, make sure you are at the big square in front of the castle."

Magnus glared at him, "Did you get that?"

Ike nodded, "At the palace square, at sunset, keep shopkeepers from bothering me. Yeah, pretty much."

Magnus began retreating almost immediately. Hemah followed suit, but threw a small reminder over his shoulder.

"Be on time, okay? It'll be the beginning of something you'll never forget!"

* * *

Looking back on the time Ike had spent wandering around that city, he always regretted the things that he didn't do. He would do that with many occasions and many places. No matter how much he did to, there were always things left to regret.

But at the same time he didn't think there really was a better way to spent the time like he had. He had indeed done practically nothing. He had, after trying some of the festival food, searched for a tavern as quickly as he could and ordered the biggest plate of meat he could find and gulped it down as soon as possible. He then ordered another plate. Some things really never change, don't they?

The rest of the time he first tried to spend walking up and down a few big roads. He had only found one small stand selling a few masks. But when he looked at the masks he felt that unsettling feeling coiling inside of him and he had quickly decided that he'd rather put up with being treated like some idiot foreigner than wear one of those things.

It didn't take long for Ike to decide and head towards the square in advance. He didn't feel like doing much else and he was afraid he might not make it in time if he tried to get there at the last moment.

He was surprised when he got to the square. It was quieter than any other part of town he had been to. There were a few people passing over the square, headed towards different parts of town, the ones who really stayed at the square where a few old men and woman who were resting their bones on ledges or small benches.

The square itself was wide and open. On one side the castle overshadowed a large part of it and from the looks of it, the sun would set behind the castle. The walls surrounding the castle bordered one side of the square and were heavily guarded by guards. The large wooden gates were closed.  
There were stalls along the edges of the square, but they weren't occupied by any shopkeepers. All of them contained large glass cases, in which strange daggers lay, made from some kind of strange white metal or mineral. The only difference between the hilt and the blade was that the hilt was wrapped in white cloth. Ike thought of it as odd, but he did not see any reason to inquire about them.

Ike walked up to the middle of the square, where a fountain stood. In the middle of the fountain arose a woman made from white stone. The water flooded from the top of her head almost unnoticeably, cloaking her completely in a layer of water, which almost soundlessly poured into the basin at her feet. From the fact that the woman had an angel like appearance and the fact that it was kept so clean that no kind of filth could be spotted on the statue, Ike concluded that she must represent the goddess that the people believed in.

Ike couldn't look up at it for too long, since the sun had positioned itself so in the sky that it was placed directly behind the head of the statue, like some kind of aureole. With the thin layer of water running over her, it appeared as if she was some being that existed of only light.

"She looks lovely, doesn't it?"

Ike's head snapped to the side at hearing the voice.

"Ah, sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

There was an old woman standing next to him. She was leaning on a stick to support herself and was smiling kindly at Ike.

"No need to apologize, ma'am. You must've caught me a bit off guard."

"What a way of speaking," she chuckled softly and Ike understood she didn't mean to insult him. "I haven't seen you around before, have I, young man?"

"No, ma'am. I'm a traveller."

"I guessed as much," she nodded softly to herself, "But you weren't here from the beginning of the festival were you?"

"No," Ike replied, "I arrived today."

"Ah, so you must've come to see them dance?"

"The what?" Ike said, "I'm sorry, but I've never heard anything about a dance."

"So it is a coincidence you say?" The old lady spoke, "Then you are really lucky, my boy. It truly is something you'll never forget."


End file.
